The Cheerer Upper
by Duck Life
Summary: Over the years, he was always there to hold her up when she was at her weakest. Jaggie. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Maggie Winnock stormed into Mr. Wetzel's seventh grade homeroom and flung her messenger bag onto the desk beside her best friend, Jasper Bartlett. With a loud exclamation of infuriation, she shoved the bag off of her desk and onto the floor. "Don't hate on the bag," chastened Jasper, nudging it under her desk with his foot. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she growled venomously, slouching into her seat and glaring towards the front of the room.

"Obviously," he agreed mockingly, "seeing as you're in such a bright mood this morning."

"Look, I'm having a really bad day," she ranted, "so can you just let it go?"

"How can you be having a bad day already?" he almost laughed. "It's only seven in the morning." She looked at him murderously, and he actually shrank back for a moment.

"Well, I slept in, missed the bus, walked into a mailbox, and on my way to class I stepped in gum," she hissed furiously. He chewed his lip, trying not to smile at her angry pouting expression.

"Yeah, that sounds like a sucky day," he conceded, watching her thoughtfully. "I'm going to make you feel better."

"How?" she groaned skeptically, sinking in her chair until her face was level with the desktop. Waggling his eyebrows deviously, he extracted his cell phone from his jeans pocket and held it out in front of him. "Jasper," she whispered quickly, "what are you doing? If Mr. W catches you with that you'll be in detention for a week!"

"I know," he said, his eyes glued to the screen. "Here it is." He pressed a button on the keypad and one of his numerous ringtones began blaring out of the phone. She couldn't hold back a smile when she recognized the song.

_You had a bad day, you're taking one down  
You sing a sad song just to turn it around  
You say you don't know, you tell me don't lie  
You work on a smile and you go for a ride _

Mr. Wetzel suddenly burst into the room, and Jasper slid the phone down the sleeve of his sweatshirt, swiftly dousing the music. "Did it work?" he whispered. She nodded. "Alright, from now on I am officially in charge of getting rid of your bad moods," he announced. She rolled her eyes and turned to pull out her notebook, but she couldn't deny that he had completely abated her negativity.

o-o-o-o-o

**A/N: Multichap, not a oneshot, remember! Do not hesitate to story alert this! **

**So who else is uber-excited about the season finale tonight? I think I've been either grinning or squee-ing all day in anticipation. **


	2. Chapter 2

Jasper could tell that Maggie was upset about something. She was distracted and even more quiet than usual. Unfortunately, unlike in sixth and seventh grade, they only had one class together, and he wouldn't get a chance to talk to her until then.

When that class, Algebra, finally rolled around, he rushed in as quickly as possible. Maggie was already in her seat. He fell into the chair next to her and pulled the desk until it was against hers. "Hey, Mags," he grinned.

"Oh…" she murmured, looking up at him. "Hi." She returned to staring at the artificial wooden grains in her desktop.

"Maggie?" he continued more insistently.

"Yeah?" she said, her answer delayed, glancing up at him with barely focused eyes.

"Are you okay?" She frowned, then, without warning, collapsed into her arms folded on her desk.

"My parents are splitting up," she mumbled between nearly silent sobs. Without thinking, he wrapped his arm around her heaving shoulders and rubbed her shoulder affectionately, attempting to calm her.

"It'll be okay," he assured her.

"Yeah, because divorce always ends well," she retorted sarcastically, sitting up and wiping her eyes.

"My parents aren't together and I got through it," he pointed out.

"Just stay out of it, Jasper," she snapped, pulling out her notebook. Sighing, he moved his desk back to its original placement and did the same as Mr. Rowl stalked into the room.

Mr. Rowl always wore huge, old-fashioned round glasses that magnified his eyes to an alarming size and didn't understand any pop culture references whatsoever. As he scrawled the warm-up assignment on the board, Jasper began to gain an idea of how to fulfill the promise he'd made to Maggie almost a year ago. He was going to free her of her desperation and depression.

"Mr. Owl?" he said, timing his question exactly in the middle of the lesson. He stretched out the end of "mister" to conceal the fact that he was using the nickname the students called him behind his back. "How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?" The teacher glared at him in confusion.

"Mr. Bartlett, I don't see what this inane question has to do with quadratic equations, but I would have to guess about five hundred," said Mr. Rowl, not getting the allusion, as he'd expected.

"I think you're actually supposed to say three," corrected Jasper, smirking in satisfaction as he heard Maggie slip into hysterics beside him.


	3. Chapter 3

A couple months later, Jasper grew worried when he realized halfway through Mr. Rowl's class that Maggie wasn't showing up, despite the fact that he'd seen her in the hallway earlier. He'd known her for three years, long enough to realize that she was the sort of person who wouldn't let something as insignificant as a doctor's appointment or even a much-needed trip to the emergency room stand in the way of her perfect attendance record. Something was wrong.

The instant class let out, he sprinted to meet her at her locker, but she wasn't there. Spinning wildly, his panic escalating, he spotted a girl he knew shared all of Maggie's morning classes. "Jennifer," he said, stepping in front of her. She stared at him as if he were a dead bug that had tumbled out of her backpack.

"It's Jessica," she corrected, sniffing. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, have you seen Maggie?" he asked quickly.

"She's been in the bathroom since fourth period," she answered, side-stepping him. "Someone said they heard her crying," she added before walking away. Jasper hurried forward, stopping at the threshold of the girls' restroom. The bell rang, and a couple of girls who'd been fixing their make-up at the last minute trickled out of the door, shooting him judgmental glances. The hallways were soon empty, and in the quiet he could hear someone- Maggie- shifting around somewhere in the depths of the forbidden cavern. He wrestled with himself for a moment, trying to justify entering the girls' bathroom. Eventually he decided that, because everyone was in class and nobody would see him, and because Maggie was in trouble, there was nothing wrong with walking in.

As soon as he rounded the first corner he saw her, curled up in the farthest corner. He rushed toward her, and it wasn't until he was standing over her that he noticed the crimson snakes trailing off her arms and into a small puddle on the floor. The air rushed out of him.

"Jasper," she muttered, sounding as if she were trying to sound angry but didn't have the strength, "get out of here. You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should you," he said, kneeling beside her. She was holding a small pocketknife, and there were four thin red lines stitched across her left wrist. He snatched the knife away from her and grabbed at her hand, examining the damage with a sickening sense of dread. "Maggie…" he trailed off. He wanted to be professional, he wanted to do what he'd been taught to do in sixth grade during that suicide seminar, he wanted to be as calm and as helpful as those kids in the cheesy movies they showed during indoor recess. But that really wasn't Jasper's style. "What the _hell_?"

"I know, it's stupid," she blubbered through fresh tears. "I'm stupid. It's just… everybody expects me to be, you know, the smart one, and… and I _try_ so _hard_, and everyone just thinks they know exactly what I'll do because… well, because it's the smart thing to do, and…" She stopped to let out a shaky half-cough, half-cry.

"Hey," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder in vain hope of comforting her. "I thought we had an agreement. When you're upset, you come to _me_, not this… _thing_," he finished with disgust, wiping the knife's blade on his jeans, folding it up and slipping it into his pocket.

"I'm s-sorry," she said, "I just… just…"

"Shhh," he whispered, brushing her hair back and wiping her tears away with his thumb. He took her hand and helped- forced- her up. With determination, he began to lead her away. "Come on." She began to follow him, but then stopped, resisting his insistent tugging.

"Please don't take me to the psycho guidance counselor," she pleaded.

"Are you kidding?" he replied. "I would never do that to you; the woman's insane. We're going somewhere much more therapeutic, with a much higher rate of helping troubled souls."

"Where?" she sighed, letting him pull her forward again.

"The carnival," he answered, grinning. Her eyebrows flew up, and shock displaced all the despondence in her face.

"We're skipping school?" she asked incredulously.

"Would you rather miss half a day of school out of the rest of our lives to have a little fun, or stay here and keep slicing your wrist open?" he asked. "I gotta tell you, Mags, suicidal is not a pretty color on you."

She smiled half-heartedly. "Fine," she agreed. "But we have to get a funnel cake."

"Of course," he said. "And we'll get them to sprinkle extra grease on it and we can spend the weekend trying out that new zit cream, Pimple My Ride." Maggie laughed, and, smiling, they ran out of the school.


	4. Chapter 4

Maggie threw her books down on her desk with a huff and slammed into her seat. "Looks like the new school year is starting off well," said Jasper from the desk beside hers, sarcastic as usual.

"I hate it here," she grumbled.

"At least you don't live with the principal," he pointed out.

"I guess." She smiled for a moment, but then it was gone. "And because of my stupid birthday I have to wait until next year until I can drive while everyone else is getting their license!"

"Driving is overrated," he assured her. "I don't have my license yet, either."

"Yeah, but you have the _option_," she argued, leaning her head against the back of her chair. Jasper shrugged and turned towards the front of the classroom.

* * *

That afternoon, a few hours after school had let out, Jasper rolled into Maggie's driveway in his father's hybrid. He honked, drawing her to the front door. He could just barely see her brown eyes peeking through the side window before she flew out the door and ran towards the car. "What are you doing?" she gaped.

"Kidnapping you," he explained cheerfully. "Get in."

"When did you get your driver's license?" she asked, walking around the car to the passenger's side door.

"A couple hours ago," he said brightly.

"Oh, that's reassuring," she said, rolling her eyes but nevertheless sliding into the car. "And your dad's allowed you to steal his car?"

"Allowed… didn't know about…," he said. "They mean practically the same thing." She laughed. "Besides, I might be getting my own car soon. Remember my cousin?"

"You mean Crazy Cousin Henry?" she asked.

"That's the one," said Jasper. "Apparently, he got stuck in a lightning storm in Australia and my aunt and uncle are talking about sending him _here_."

"Oh no," sighed Maggie.

"I know right?" said Jasper, pulling out of her neighborhood. "But Dad says if they actually go through with it and he has to live in my room, I get a car if I put up with him."

"Cool!" she exclaimed. "You should ask for something eco-friendly. Like a Smart Car!" He groaned and shook his head.

"Lame!" he critiqued. "Promise me, if you ever see me driving something as ridiculous as a Smart Car, you'll shoot me in the head."

"'Kay," she agreed. "So where are we going?"

"The movies," he said.

"What are we going to see?" she persisted.

"I have no idea," he answered. "Is anything good out?"

"I don't think so," she said.

"Then I guess we'll just go watch New Moon and boo loudly so the Twilighters can't hear any of the important lines," he suggested, grinning deviously. She smiled.

"I'd like that."


	5. Chapter 5

Midday Monday found Maggie Winnock and her two best friends Henry and Jasper weaving through the crowd of students on their way to their sixth period class. "Good luck in Mrs. Deller's class," said Jasper, who had her in second period before either of his friends, "there's a pop quiz today."

"A _what_?" Maggie gasped. "I'm not prepared! I can't take a pop quiz today!"

"Calm down," said Henry worriedly. "It's just a quiz."

"Oh, this is just… great, you know?" she vented. "This is fantastic. My locker was stuck this morning and they ran out of cornbread in the cafeteria and now we have a pop quiz." She threw up her hands and let out a desperate sigh.

"Must be that time of the month," muttered Jasper, earning an elbow in the ribs and a mortified glare from Maggie.

"What, you mean the monthly Club Day tomorrow?" asked Henry, confused.

"Yeah," said Maggie quickly, looking away. "Stresses me out every time it rolls around."

"You should come over tonight," he suggested. "We could rent a movie or something. Uncle B's at his reunion."

"Maybe," she said. "I kind of just want to go home and go to sleep." Jasper spared her a sideways glance, concerned.

"Well," said Henry, hurrying through the hall, "I guess we should try to get in some last-minute study time before…" He turned, but neither of his friends was behind him. "Guys?"

* * *

"We'll be late," complained Maggie as Jasper pulled her down the back hallway.

"You're not happy," he explained.

"No, I'm not," she agreed, "and I'm going to be even less so if I get a tardy slip." He'd led her to a stairwell near the back of the school, a known make-out spot. "What are we doing here?"

"Oh, nothing," he said, smiling. "But it's my job to make you feel better. It always has been." She nodded.

"Yeah, you're awesome," she said. "We are _so _going to be late to class."

"Not until I get you over this crappy mood," he said. "But you gotta work with me here, 'cause I'm kind of running out of ideas."

"Jasper, will you j-" She stopped talking. His hands were suddenly on her shoulders, and his face was much closer to hers than it had been a second ago. He kissed her. She just stood there, shocked. After a moment, he stepped back, flushed patches across his cheekbones and a very arrogant, un-Jasper grin plastered across his face.

"Did it work?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied, surprising herself. "It worked." He watched her carefully, peacefully, locked in that minute.

"Oh my God, we're going to be late!" he yelped suddenly, running down the hall. Shaking her head, she followed him.

**THE END**

**A/N: Well, that was fun. And today is my birthday! **


End file.
